Indian equities continue lackadaisical trade

Indian bourses continue their lackadaisical trade and were trading with cut of over half a percent in noon session as selling appeared in Realty, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas stocks with Sensex and Nifty tumbling by 477 and 135 points respectively. Traders were worried as survey by IHS Markit showed India's dominant services sector growth slowed to six-month low in January as restrictions due to Omicron wave of Covid-19 cases and surging prices weighed on demand. The IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slumped to 51.5 in January from 55.5 in December. Though, still above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. Both new business and output rose at slight rates that were the weakest in six months. Selling further crept in as foreign institutional investors stood as net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 183.60 crore on Wednesday

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with a split between those suffering from profit-taking following a recent rally and those that were playing catch-up after a midweek break across much of the region. Back home, on the sectoral front, auto stocks were trading higher on expectations that increased economic activity and growth in employment would fuel demand for automobiles including two-wheelers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59080.95, down by 477.38 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 59021.88 and 59557.87. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.62%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.25%, Consumer Durables up by 0.29%, Metal up by 0.25% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.25%, while Realty down by 1.46%, Capital Goods down by 1.15%, Oil & Gas down by 1.07%, IT down by 0.99% and TECK was down by 0.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.92%, Asian Paints up by 0.58%, Titan Co up by 0.49%, ITC up by 0.43% and Axis Bank was up by 0.37%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.22%, NTPC down by 2.70%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.96%, Infosys down by 1.61% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the data released by the government has indicated that India has received foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow of $54.10 billion in April-November period of the current financial year (FY22). FDI equity inflows during April-November of FY22 was $39.26 billion. It was $43.85 billion during April-November 2020.

According to the data, sectors that attracted maximum inflows during the period include computer software and hardware ($9 billion), automobile ($5.84 billion), services ($4.95 billion), education ($2.8 billion), trading ($2.79 billion), construction (infrastructure) activities ($1.48 billion), metallurgical industries ($1.35 billion), and defence industries ($2.19 million).

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash has said that the government has put in place a liberal and transparent policy for FDI, wherein most of the sectors are open under the automatic route. To further liberalise and simplify FDI policy for providing the ease of doing business and attract investments, he said reforms have been undertaken recently across sectors such as coal mining, contract manufacturing, digital media, single-brand retail trading, civil aviation, defence, insurance and telecom.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17644.55, down by 135.45 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 17624.95 and 17781.15. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.56%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.80%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.05%, Asian Paints up by 0.60% and Eicher Motors was up by 0.57%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.24%, NTPC down by 2.90%, ONGC down by 2.51%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.30% and Larsen & Toubro was down by 2.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 292.29 points or 1.06% to 27,241.31 and Jakarta Composite was down by 26.97 points or 0.4% to 6,680.68. On the flip side; Straits Times advanced 60.14 points or 1.85% to 3,309.73 and KOSPI was up by 51.10 points or 1.92% to 2,714.44.